EVs sitting idle after fire in Los Angeles
...
The LA Times reported — and I'm sure it killed them to do it — that EV drivers are having a tough time of it.
You’ve plugged your electric vehicle into your home charger and hit the sack. Overnight, high winds topple a power line. Your charger blacks out. Then, a report of a fire, followed by an evacuation order. Your battery’s only charged to 25%. And it’s your only car.
Such are the fears some California car buyers are expressing amid the fires that have devastated Los Angeles County and forced people to evacuate their homes at a moment’s notice.
Believe it or not, there were no woke follow-up promises of ponies and unicorns in the LAT, though I'm sure they would have proved more useful than cars with dead batteries.
The Times brought anecdotes crystallizing some of the biggest problems with forcing people to have nothing but electric vehicles by 2035.
A gasoline car “can evacuate in any direction on any road and still get fuel when needed,” said Matthew Butterick, a Los Angeles attorney who lives near Griffith Park. “The EV stations on evacuation routes would have massive lines and delays, gasoline stations less so. And the electric grid may not be available. Power companies turn off power to avoid sparking a fire and also to avoid legal liability. This is probably the future of all the hillside neighborhoods.”
His sentiments were echoed by Val Cipollone, who lives in the wooded hills above Berkeley. She owns a Nissan Leaf, a full electric vehicle with a roughly 220-mile range, which she plans to sell.
“Who knows how far you’d have to drive” after a disaster, she said. “I used to think I’d only need to drive to my place of work. But who knows, I might have to go much farther.”
...
There will be many lessons from the fires in California, but the vulnerability of the EVs is clearly one of them.
See also:
Comments
Post a Comment